Thursday, December 8, 2022

 

 

Away, you starveling, you eel-skin, you dried neats-tongue, you bull’s-pizzle, you stock-fish,-- O, for breath to utter what is like thee!—You tailor’s-yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing-tuck,--

  

-Sir John Falstaff

 King Henry the Fourth Part I       Act II, Scene iv, Line 248

 

And thankfully Prince Henry interrupts Falstaff after ‘standing-tuck’ to set the story straight.

This is the scene where Prince Henry and Poinz meet up with Falstaff and the other three of his group at the inn. Falstaff is relating the tale of what happened to him and the other three. According to Fastaff, they had just finished robbing a group of travelers when they were set upon by a very large group of bandits who took all the loot. The Prince knows that it was he and Poinz wearing masks who were the ‘very large group’ of bandits, and he is calling Falstaff’s bluff. And this is why Falstaff is calling the Prince every name he can think of.

My favorite in this paragraph is bull-pizzle. It just sounds good. I don’t know what most of these insults mean, but I looked up pizzle and apparently it means penis. So that just makes it better. I may have to use this one, though I’m pretty sure that if I do the person will know that I’m not saying anything good about him.

Bull-pizzle.

I found the perfect parking spot this morning.
No bull-pizzle.


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